Hunting down the enemy- Together
by AikoLoveGirl
Summary: Robin had finally found her home- The Whitebeard Pirate's and their loveable antics. For the first few days, everything had gone perfectly. But, later on, when one of the crew members commits the worst crime one can out at sea, everyone is left shattered. Then, a certain few decide to take action, avenging their lost comrade's death. AceRo
1. Failed Escape And New Beginings

**Hey everyone! ( _ ) This is a new story I made. Well, actually, I took the plot bunny from Sarcasticles story and kinda played around with it. ^.^ Any credit should go to that person, not me. Anyways, please Review to this story so I can make it better and what not! Also, please tell me if I have made any errors on here. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the story! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, Oda does. Actually, I do not own anything in this story. O.O Not even the plot! That belongs to Sarcasticles! :'( I feel so ashamed...**

She creeped out of the massive halls, finding her way to the enormous deck. Even though it was an unbelievable size, it fit perfectly for the captain of this ship, she thought. The raven-hair made her way to the edge of the ship, perfectly dodging the light of the man on watch. When the light slowly moved away from her pathway, she darted across the deck and behind a random storage-room. She briefly wondered where it had come from but hid the thought in the back of her mind as she looked up to the Crows nest.

_'Goodbye, Marco-san.' _She stated in her heart. She gave one longing look at the ship, and quickly turned around. The raven-haired girl ran towards the edge of the ship. Thankfully, the storage house cast a deep shadow, making it almost impossible for someone out of the shadows to see a thing. Her eyes traveled the railings until they set on the prize. Lifeboats. She quickly walked over to the edge of the ship, reaching for the ropes. Her slender fingers worked wonders on the knots. They instantly became unknotted, and the ship fell down to the raging waters. It made a very large splashing noise, but thankfully, no one came out of their quarters. It was, though, 3' o'clock in the morning. Who would come out? If it was an attacker... well, those don't come along very often. Who would attack the strongest crew in the world? No one, thats who. Even the marines weren't that stupid. Especially don't attack them at Night. At that time, they didn't hold back because they held their sleep very dear to them.

_'Goodbye, everyone.'_ She gave one last look towards the boat of The WhiteBeard pirates, being sad for a split second. Then, her frown turned into an out-of-character smirk. She was finally free to go pursue her dreams! Finding the poneglyph was now so close in her grasp. The raven-haired swiftly jumped onto the railings of the ship. Her gaze went down towards the small rescue boat; or how she would put it, Escape Boat. With a deep breath, she prepared to jump off. Her legs bent down in a position to do her final deed on this ship. Right when her legs sprung, a very strong held her down. The force was so strong that she slammed into the deck. She let out a small groan, and opened her eyes.

_'How did I not see him?!' _She wondered. Gray eyes stare down at her, as well as...

"What the _hell _do you think you were doing?!" A pompadour-hairstyle man glared down at her. From a few days of sailing with them, she could tell he wasn't mad, but worried.

"Damn it, Robin! This is the eighth time _this week!_ And it isn't even _Thursday _yet!" The other yelled, his gray eyes glaring as well. The girl of question, Robin, didn't react towards their outburst. She simply got back up and dusted her pants off. She sent a glare towards the both of them and crossed her arms over her very large chest. She chose not to give them an answer, but instead, stand there until they gave up asking questions. It went on for a while- eventually, Marco even left his post to see what was happening on deck- and the quiet whispers turned into loud shouts. The groaning of the crews could be heard, and multiple crewmates came out to see what was causing so much ruckus so early in the morning. One sight of their 2nd-newest member sent them right back into their chambers. It goes to show how much of a troublemaker he was.

It was nearing 4 o'clock when a loud grumbling shook the whole ship. The four of them stopped arguing when that happened, fear along with shock in their eyes. Had they been so loud that they actually woke _him _up? They stood their as loud footsteps made their way towards them from around the corner. A walking stick pounding on the ground every time he took a step, making the ship move even more. The grumbling became louder as the captain made his way towards the small group. Robin quickly composed her shocked-face back to a stone-cold glare at Thatch and Ace.

"This. Is. All. Your. Fault." She hissed. Everyone knew that when WhiteBeard was woken from his sleep, not even his first-division commander could bring his to his normal state for the next hour or two. Ace shot her a deadly glare but remained silent. Finally, after the agonizing wait, WhiteBeard's form came into view. First his hand holding the gigantic stick stuck out from the corner. Then his foot stomped onto the floor in the groups view. Finally, his other foot slammed onto the floor of the deck, revealing his whole self. Robin's eyes narrowed down to the size of slits as he inched closer.

"O-oyaji!" Ace stammered. Said man looked down to his newest son, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he looked to Thatch, who was clearly ashamed of himself at the moment. When his eyes traveled to his first-division commander, he didn't pay attention to what excuse he was trying to give. Finally, his sharp eyes traveled to the one standing on the ship's railings, glaring at him full on. They stare at eachother for a minute or two until Robin dropped her gaze.

"What is going on out here?" He slowly asked. Even though he just got to the scene, he already knew the answer to his own question. This was about the... 8th time she tried to escape? He lost count probably on the 2nd time.

"Robin tried to escape!" Marco cried.

"Again..." Thatch yelled as well. Ace nodded his agreement with his fellow whitebeard-ians. They and Whitebeard went deep into conversation about what to do about their wannabe-escape when they heard a soft noise from behind. They turned around very swiftly to see Robin giggling into her hand. Ace and Marco visibly relaxed at the sight of her smiling. Actually, that was the _first_ time she had ever smiled since she got on board with the Whitebeard Pirates. Smirking for evil things did _not _count.

"What's so funny?" Ace demanded.

"How much you guys are worrying about me." Robin stated after she was done. "When I am about to leave right now." That got everyone quiet. Whitebeard gave a long sigh, which, other than the roaring waves, was the only sound heard. The scene was a total glaring contest. Robin at Marco, Marco at Robin. Ace was now glaring at Thatch, who had such _decency_ that he poured some type of liquid on his head, and Thatch was glaring back at Ace, trying to hold back a fit of laughter. From the corner of her eye, she saw WhiteBeard chuckling very quietly to himself, than saying either: "Brats, always getting into fights" or "Rats, calmly betting is alright". She quickly doubted the second one.

"Why?" Robin suddenly asked.

"Why what?" The three men answered in respond.

"Why do you care about me... even when I try to leave you all?" Her eyes narrowed lower than slits this time. All of them blinked at her, dumbfounded. Whatever they were expecting, they did not expect that. Robin waited a little longer for the answer, but still, no one said a word. She didn't know why at the time, but her heart dropped a little. They couldn't answer her. Or, rather, they didn't _want _to answer her.

"Well, if you have nothing to say..." Robin took a step backwards toward the edge of the ship. "Then I think this-"

"I don't care why you are being chased down by the world," Robin's eyes widened as she heard Whitebeards booming voice echo through the walls of the ship. So they _did _care. Or, at least Whitened did. "I don't care why the world call's you the Demon Child, daughter of Nico Olivia. They say you are a demon because you know the things that most shouldn't even imagine about, that you are too dangerous to be kept here. All that remains of O'hara's infamous Archaeologists."

"Sh-She is..." Ace trailed off, eyes stricken with amazement. Robin knew it for sure now; they were going to kick her off and get it done with. All of the others did the same thing to her, more or less. So why should Whitebeard be any different? Before she could close her eyes and jump back onto the lifeboat that was behind her, a gigantic hand reached out towards her. Her head shot up in surprise as Whitebeard finished what he was saying.

"I do not care if you are a demon child. You do not look like one to me at all! What matters is not what a person did in the past, or what they were in the past, but what they become _now_. Nico Robin, come sail the seas with me,become my daughter. Bear the mark of the Whitebeard Pirates, and live under that name from now, and forever! Guarararara!" By the time Whitebeard was finished, fresh streaks of tears were sailing down Robin's cheek's. Even as a grown 20***** year old, she couldn't help the tears from falling out of her eyes. What he said right then, it just broke her heart.

"All my life," Robin cried, "I've been passed down from place to place, person to person, ship to ship. Before knowing my name, they would greet me with open arms. After finding out my true identity, and my bounty poster, they gave me up to the marines. They beat me, left me for dead, didn't feed me... they _hurt me_. Now, when you say those words, how am I suppose to believe that you won't forsaken me, just like when those people gave me their word, they forsake me?"

"Because," Marco stepped back into the conversation. He was a usually gruff man, he supposed, but seeing Robin in this pitiful state would break anyones heart. "He isn't afraid of you. You said that those people forsake you when they found out your true identity, am I wrong? Well, they did that because they were afraid of getting hurt by you. They took one look at a Bounty Poster and thought that only turning you in would help save themselves. but, if you have forgotten, yoi," Marco smirked.

"We are the Whitebeard Pirates!" Ace pumped his fist in the air.

"And we are not afraid of anything the world -or beyond- may throw at us!" Thatch happily agreed. Robin's eyes traveled to each one of them, silently giving them a 'Thank you so much' in her head. Finally, her eyes returned to the enormous man in front of her. She waited for his response.

"But, we are always looking for someone to join our family." Robin's heart tore at the word. _Family._ She looked up to Whitebeards outstretched hand once more, just a tiny bit wary.

"Come on, Ro-"

"Shut up, Ace! This is a touching moment!"

"Why don't you, Thatch?! You're ruining it-" Thud. Marco gave a small sigh as he pounded the two on the head. Morons. Robin's attention reverted back to WhiteBeards hand. Something in her mind told her not to, something in her heart told her to do it. Judging from past experiences when she judged using her mind, she sighed very loudly. Here goes. Replacing her frown with an amazing smile, she lifted her small hand onto Whitebeards humongous one. WhiteBeard gave his trademark laugh and the present members of the Whitebeard pirates cheered in glee. Robin dried her tears, using her sleeve as a wiping utensil. She finally had a home, a _real _home, somewhere she could relax. Somewhere Robin didn't feel the need to be wary of them calling the Marines on her. Somewhere she felt she _belonged_. It was a very touchy moment, save for the fact that Ace and Thatch were dancing very weirdly- Like some sort if square-dance. A question the popped into her head.

"White-erm... _Oyaji-san_, can I ask you something?" Robin looked up to him in big, beautiful eyes.

"Of course!"

"Earlier, I saw a house contraption in the middle of the deck. I remember from the first time I came on this ship, that was not there. Do you happen to know where it came from?" She inquired.

"Why no, Brat." He lied through gritted teeth. Robin eyed him for a few moments before smiling and going over to Ace and Thatch. Marco took this time to come up from behind Oyaji.

"The old think-they'll-leave-so-build-a-house-to-spy-on-her technique?" The first mate inquired. Whitebeard turned his head and gave him his brightest laugh. Spy on her? No, he wouldn't call it that. More like, making sure that his children won't leave him. Yes, thats much better, he mused.

"I knew she would stay." WhiteBeard whispered, though with his voice, it was like a normal person talking. Marco sighed and shook his head.

"Of course, Oyaji. Of course." The Whitebeards first-mate laughed. He received a very hard slap on the back, making him fly across the deck, face sliding across the expensive wood. All the while, he only heard laughs from all around him. The blonde angrily got up on his feet and pointed an accusing finger at Ace and Thatch.

"Shut the _hell _up, yoi!" He screeched. The others just laughed harder at this, making Marco's face turn red.

"Oi Oi Oi Oi Oi Oi Oi Oi!" Three feminine voices screamed. Uh-oh. Robin looked over to the rest of the small group. The three smaller man were visibly paling, and Whitebeard gave a small laugh. Robin turned back around to look at the edge of the ship. Who was that? She didn't know there was women on this ship... Almost on a timer, three women stormed across the corner, head looking both ways to figure out which path they should take. When their eyes landed on Whitebeard, they instantly stormed over to them. Robin noticed how they all shoved the three men out of their way as they made their way to Whitebeard. A very short light-pink nurses dress was what they wore, accompanied by a light pink sailors cap, with a small red 'X' decorated in the middle. They immediately started to yell at their captain for getting out of bed before he was fully rested. They prodded him with stuff that came out of nowhere and started to pull their captain back to his room. The nurses looked furious as they glared at Ace and Thatch, then smiled sweetly to Marco and Robin. The last two just smiled and waved back, but behind, they were thinking, _'Damn.' _

"Well, anyways, this calls for a PART-" Thatch clasped a hand over Ace's mouth, much to the fire-users annoyance. He gave the 4th division commander a nasty glare, but the other didn't retaliate to being harsh. Yet.

"Baka! It's only 4:30 in the morning!" Thatch hissed. The gray eyes still sharply glared at him, as if saying _'Who the hell cares?!'_

"My my, it's very early." Robin piped up. "I think it would be a good time to go back to sleep, don't you say, Ace-san?" Ace pouted at the suggestion.

"But-"

"Just go, yoi!" Marco yelled, pointing towards the door that led to his division. Ace's gray eyes looked to each of his fellow comrades. Seeing as though they were all very tired, he sighed in defeat. Sulking, he was let go of Thatch's grip and walked sluggishly towards the ship. Before he went inside, he looked back at them with the best doggie-eyes he could muster.

"I hope you're happy with yourselves, you monsters. Ruining a man's dreams; how could you? I believed in you, yet-"

"GET IN YOUR FREAKING DORM OR ELSE, ACE!" Marco screeched, running towards the door Ace was at. Giving a girlish giggle, Ace slipped inside the door and left. Marco stopped where he was and looked like he was about to pull his hair out. A moment later, the door opened again, Ace only poking his head out to look over at Robin.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you! Congratulations, Robin. It's gonna be fun with a NORMAL girl on board."

"ACEEE! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" One of the nurses stormed out of Whitebeards room and started to stalk towards him.

"Get back inside, ya BAKA!" Marco screamed. Ace giggled once again and with a 'Tata, my loyal fans!' he slipped once more into the ship. After waiting for a moment to make sure that Ace was fully gone for a moment, everyone sighed in relief.

"He's right, well, the first part, anyways." Robin looked over to the Nurse. She was now smiling very warmly, highlighting her amber eyes. Everyone looks better when they smile! "Congratulations, Robin."

"Thank you, nurse-san." Robin replied. They gave each other a small nod before the nurse returned to her angry state. She turned around and busted Whitebeard's door open, slamming it with all her might. Other screaming could be heard inside, but Robin chose to ignore it.

"Congratulations, Robin." Marco smiled at her.

"Thank you, Marco-san. It feels nice to be somewhere where you actually... belong." Robin gave him a tired smile. "I've been searching for that, along with the poneglyphs, but never found one. But now that I do, I hope I can take a big break."

"Well, with Ace and Thatch on board," Marco rolled his eyes at the mention of his two friends. "You'll never get a good break." They shared a small laugh together.

"Talking about Cook-san, where is he?" Robin inquired. They both looked around the gigantic deck and found no one.

"Huh," Marco scratched the top of his head. "Looks like he left..."

"And that is what we shall do also." Robin decided. It was almost five now, and she didn't want to miss _another _day of sleep. Nodding to one another, they both said good-bye and went their own ways. Marco to the crow's nest and Robin to... the edge of the boat. She sat blissfully in a lawn chair that was out there and stared at the rising sun. Thoughts whorled in her head about the new pirate crew, the new home she had, the new life. Robin's stomach was twirling in delight with new feelings she hadn't experienced since Ohara and the Professor... and it felt amazing.

***Haha! ^.^ I was informed via review that Ace was actually 20 before he died. I really got to look up these thing son One Piece wikia before I put them up, huh? Anyways, I just didn't want Robin to be so much older than Ace, so I changed it up a little. Hope you're olay with that!**

**Please Review! :D I hoped you enjoyed it. Discrimination is always welcome to improve my story, but nothing to harsh, ok? :D **


	2. Party Planning

**Hazzah! Here is the awaited Chapter Two of this story. I know, I know, once you read it, you're all going to be like: 'Why did you put this in here? Just hurry up and get into the AceRo and the action! Gesh...' Well. I will tell you that this leads UP to that point. I have so much I need to include that it's driving me crazy! :'( But, thankfully, knowing that I have to continue this story for all of you brings me back to earth! :D Enjoy, my fellow FanFictioners!**

**Disclaimer: Gah! I can't believe I forgot this the first go round! . One Piece does not belong to me, but to Oda. **

Marco did _not _like it. Nope. Nada. Not one _little itty bit_, as Ace would put it. The first-division commander of the freaking Whitebeard Pirate's was at a tremendous loss! Him! He shook his furious head to get his head straight, setting his priorities straight. When he looked around the ship from the top of the crow's nest- which was considerably high-, something was definitely off beat. Marco looked around the whole area, grimacing at the sight of Whitebeard being dragged back into his cabin by those _scary _nurses. Damn them. Continuing, his eye's fell on the Second and Fourth division chamber doors. That was the problem. The blond's eyes narrowed down to the size of slits as realization dawned over him: Where the hell is Thatch and Ace? Checking over the deck once more, he found they were nowhere on deck.

_ 'That's weird, yoi.'_ He thought. On such a nice day like this, those two trouble makers were out for the worst. Pranks, pranks, pranks, FURNITURE REARRANGEMENT... Marco didn't even want to _think _about that time. Oh, how mad he had gotten when he walked into his room. Oh, how much the nurses nagged at him for nearly killing the crap out of those two.

He thought for a moment that they could just be underdeck, but that wouldn't make sense either. Usually, if they were underdeck, it was because it was raining like heck outside. Either that or Marco kicked them down there to do some unnecessary cleaning. But, with the current situations, those two factors were immediately ruled out. No way was that possible!

Sighing in heavy defeat, Marco turned around to face the workout room.

'_They're probably planning something big, yoi.' _He concluded. The first-division commander let his eyes rest on all of the members of the workout room. It was the usual as everyday, packed as can be. Every training machine was being used to the limit right now, and Marco had a feeling that they were going to buy new workout instruments. Again. For the 4th time in 2 months. He sighed for a second time, thinking about the cost of all of that. Getting exercise machines was pretty costly...

Marco stopped what he was doing when he heard a noise. It was like... a groaning of HIGH FRUSTRATION! It also sounded like... _Ace's voice._ The first-division commander gave an uncharacteristic smirk to himself while he changed to his phoenix form. Blue flames engulfed his body as he soared across the decks, eye's looking out for those two troublemakers and what they were up to. To his quick disappointment, he didn't find them on the first go round. Marco turned back around near the crow's nest, circling around the ship once more; and that's where he found them. Thatch (he presumed. Who else would do it?) was dragging along a frustrated looking Ace, who was spewing out curse words like a twinkie-factory does twinkies.

'_What the...' _Marco stopped thinking about the two and shook his head. _'What the hell's a twinkie?' _He removed those thoughts with a shake of his head and, with a swift swoop, he gracefully landed on deck. He instantly changed back to his human form. Casually slipping his hands into his pockets and eyes half-closed, he walked up to the room. More shouts of complains could be heard from inside, and it still sounded like Ace's voice. Marco blinked a few times as the sun got in his eye's, then forced the door open. It was a small storage room, one that no one bothered to check. Honestly, Marco forgot all about the little room. Thick dust aligned the plastic shelves, also boxes of food that had been there for who knows how long. Maybe Oyaji did. A dim light lit the room which hung from the top of the ceiling. Marco made a mental note to clean this place, especially seeing as how when he tried to take a step closer to the two other people in the room, his foot was temporarily stuck in a sort of gooey-looking thing.

"Ace! Get the hell up!" Thatch was currently poking Ace with one of his swords he had drawn out. The pompadour man was glaring at the second-division member. Marco's eyes traveled down to Ace. The young man looked like he was a baby, flailing his arms and legs around. He was crying about some unknown thing that only Thatch understood. Or, that's what it looked like. The blond in the room cleared his throat very loudly, gaining the attention of the other two WhiteBeard Pirates.

"Marco?" Thatch inquired, one eyebrow raised.

"T-turkey!" Ace stuttered, still bawling his eyes out. Marco ignored the nickname.

"What's going on in here, yoi?" Marco asked. He leaned against the door frame, careful that he did so on a clean area. Ace gave a small hiccup, which was very high-pitched. The first-mate gave him a split look of horror. He composed himself after clearing his throat once more, right in harmony with Thatch's clearing-of-the-throat.

"I-I can't find R-Robin!" Ace slammed his head against the ground. Marco raised his own eyebrow at that statement. Quickly and carefully, he walked across the room. He plopped himself in a chair next to Thatch's and looked at Ace.

"Why do you need to find her, yoi?" The blond asked. Ace let out a final hiccup, then stared at Marco with unbelievably round puppy-dog eyes.

"We have to have a...a party to welcome her, duh!" His vulnerable state turned into a cheeky one in a matter of seconds. Ace crossed his muscle-aligned arms against his chest, a 'Gah-turkeys-are-such-idiots-sometimes' look on his face. The other two men rolled their eyes as they took note of those facts.

"And Ace here doesn't know what she likes. Aside from reading books, sleeping, and trying to escape in the past, we really don't know anything about her." Thatch mused. Marco lazily nodded his agreement with those words. It was, after all, very true. She would sometimes sneak into Oyaji's room and steal a very large-perfect-for-Oyaji- book and read it up in the Crows Nest. While the time they had her on board before she was an official member, she barely slept. Maybe 4-5 hours a night at most. Robin also tried to escape every other 10 hours or so, but they couldn't use that fact in a _party_.

"She said something about the poneglyphs yesterday." Marco answered. There was a chorus of 'Oh yeah!' going around the room, along with nodding of the heads. Then silence followed.

"I don't know that much about them..." Thatch sighed.

"Me either..." Ace mimicked Thatch's movements; Marco did the same. He didn't know much about the poneglyphs, if anything at all. He had overheard - not eavesdropped!- Oyaji and Red-Hair making small talk about it once. From what they said, it led to a very powerful weapon, but he couldn't get the name. When his black eyes traveled over to Ace, he say the younger's face had lit up. Which probably meant a horrible idea was spewing up in his mind.

"Why don't we get Robin a poneglyph?" Ace beamed at his own idea, smiling like a madman. It took everything it had to not fall on the floor from that one, and by the look Thatch had on his face, he could say the same for the fourth-division commander. Thatch instead slammed his head on the table.

"Why is he so dumb sometimes? Even I know the answer to that..." Thatch repeatedly slammed his head on the table.

"The Poneglyphs are carved into a stone, and there are many of those stones all over the world." To help Ace understand, Marco turned some of his blue flames into rectangular objects and placed them at different locations across the table. "Each of these stones are indestructible, and are somehow glued to the ground with some sort of substance. Also, they weigh around... about 15 hundred pounds, I believe it was, yoi? So, even if we managed to tear the Poneglyph out of the ground, it would take someone with major muscles or the right Devil-fruit in order to carry it back to the ship." Marco finished right on time that he noticed a different presence behind him.

"Aside from that, it's nearly impossible to find one." A man said. He wore a pink and purple kimono with a light-red, black spotted indument tied around his waist. His hair was tied up in a way resembling that of a geisha and a small frown outlined his lipstick-covered lips. The man had a sort of pale complexion to top everything off. Marco turned in his chair to look at the 16th division commander, his expression slightly more than lazy at the moment.

"Didn't know you were here, Izo." Thatch carelessly answered, his chin placed in the palm of his hand. Izo simply ignored Thatch's statement and walked over to an empty chair, across from Ace. The small, plastic round table was getting a little filed. No one said anything for a few moments, leaving the small room in an awkward silence.

"Well... Thatch." Marco looked to Izo as he addressed the cook of the Pirate ship. "You're the cook, correct?" A small tick mark was visible for those who searched for it on Thatch's head, but the man in question simply nodded.

"Then why don't you make her a cake in the form of a poneglyph?" Everyone blinked in surprise at his answer. The other was simply picking at his nails, checking it and making sure that they were all clean. Marco thought the idea was actually pretty decent. If she loved the poneglyphs so much, why not make a poneglyph _cake _for the welcoming party?

"That's a good idea, yoi." Marco clasped his hands behind his back, leaning back in the chair as far as it would go. Izo nodded towards the first-division commander, as well as Ace and Thatch. Thatch seemed a little more enthusiastic than what Marco needed right now.

"That's an amazing idea! I can make a small rectangle ponegloph-"

"Poneglyph."

"Whatever. Anyways, I can make a small Pone_glyph _that represents the real one! With small writings on it that no one understands, the exact right color... Oh no! I need to make it bigger for Oyaji! Maybe I should make a life sized one... Yah! That would be amazing! Come on, Ace! You have to help me!" And with that, Thatch ran out of the room, skipping like a little 5 year old and giggling like a madman. When Marco stopped shaking his blond head, he saw that Ace visibly paled. When he asked him what's wrong, Ace gulped very loudly.

"I'm not a... very good cook." The 2nd Division member nervously chuckled. "'Member what happened with the Burgers?"

"_Dahaha! This is a GREAAAAT party! Where's the food, Ace?!" A man called out, taking another huge swig of his rum. His red hair gleamed in the setting sun, his eyes burning with laughter. His crewmates around him laughed along with his as well, some doing a little square-dance on a wooden table. When there came no reply from the kitchen in a surplus of 10 minutes, Shanks stopped laughing. _

_ "Oi! Ace, you okay in there?" Thatch called. Shanks looked across the room to the face of a worried-looking 4th division commander. It looked like he was more worried about his kitchen than his fellow comrade. Red-hair laughed at this question and took another swig of his rum. When another 5 minutes passed and no answer, Shanks raised an eyebrow. He wearily got up from his seat, wobbling around as he walked. He saw the stares the Red-Hair and Whitebeard pirates were giving the kitchen doors. Wanting to make an entrance, Shanks went to the side of the door. With a slash of his leg, he had kicked a hole into the wall. It left a thick blanket of dust in the air, making it nearly impossible to see inside. There was some coughing, though. And yelling. _

_ "Oi oi oi oi oi! Are you trying to-" Thatch ran up behind Shanks but stopped short when he came close to the kitchen. When the dust drifted off, all chins were dropped to the ground. Except for Whitebeard's chin. He just smiled and gave a loud: "Gurarara! Young Brat." and took a big gulp of his own rum. Inside of the kitchen was a mess like you never saw. Half-cooked meat was flown everywhere you looked at, as well as ketchup and mustard. Burger buns were burnt to a crisp on the counter. When Shanks looked at the ground, he couldn't even _see it. _It was like the whole marble-floor was replaced with... squishy meat. He found that out when he kneeled down and poked it. The substance jiggled a little, than, right in Red-hairs face, exploded. It gave a little popping sound as meat flung everywhere. _

_ "Is that even possible?" Benn, his first mate, wondered out loud. Shanks gave a small shrug. After he stood up again, he felt someone tense next to him. When he turned to his right, he saw one of the most angriest cooks a man could see. _

_ "ACE! I'M GOING TO _KILL _YOU!" Thatch screamed. As if on cue, said man popped his head around from the corner. He gave a small chuckle as he waved towards everyone. _

_ "Yo." _

Marco and Izo were laughing, beating their fists on the table and slapping their knees. Everyone remembered what happened, who wouldn't? By the time they were done, Ace had stormed out of the room, his face a beet-red. Marco quickly regained his calm composure, as well as Izo his frowning one. They gave each other a look.

"I guess we have to make the party then, yoi." Marco sighed. Izo copied his actions. Giving the job of making a party to these two was not the best idea. Then again, Izo _was _a cross-dresser. Maybe he knew what girls liked?

"OI, Izo, do-"

"No." Came the solid answer. Marco blinked at him.

"You don't even know-"

"I'm just going to say no."

"Chicken."

"No."

"Blob."

"No."

"Ace."

"Definitely no."

"Twinkie." That earned Marco a stare of horror.

"What the hells a _twinkie_?" Izo asked. The blond slapped his hand on his head.

"Nothing..."

"Well then no."

"Choose clothes for Robin to wear?" Marco snapped. At this, Izo's face lit up like fireworks on a twilight night.

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Izo squealed. He started to murmur things ab

out going through his unused clothes and shopping and whatnot. He quickly got out of his chair and ran for the door, kicking it open and running in the direction of his division dorm. The last man in the room shook his head at how enthusiastic he was about getting Robin some clothes. Actually, they were suppose to-

"LAND HO!" Ah, there it was. Marco casually lifted himself from the seat he was in. When he opened the door, he saw that everyone was already gone. Except for Thatch, Ace, Izo obviously Whitebeard because the nurses _commanded _him to stay, and himself, everyone hit the road. Then, he thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to prepare for Robin's surprise party. They would fix everything up when everyone was gone, and when they got back, they would surprise her with the party! Perfect plan. With that, he went to go find some party supplies. Little did he know that a few certain people had overheard the conversation they had just had. Also, little did he know that they wanted in on it. They would lead the person in the center of the party to buy a beautiful gown or whatnot, and keep her occupied until Marco gave the signal that it was A-ok to come back. The three women had the day off as well, so this would be perfect. They all agreed to go change to make it more casual with Robin.

* * *

**From now on until further notice, when I do name&name, it's represents the two groups and what they are doing at the moment, kay? **

**Thatch&Ace **

The head cook of the WB Pirates furiously spinned a spoon in a very, very, VERY big bowl of cake batter, Every now and then, he would send for Ace to go and get him some more eggs, or to go get him some lemonade. In all actuality, Ace was just there to be his dummy servant. Though he would never say that to his face. Thatch chuckled to himself as he broke four-overly-large egg's into the bowl. He added a little more cake batter to the creamy goodness. When he was about to start mixing again, he noticed something in the corner of his eye. He instantly sent a bone-chilling glare towards his younger 'assistant'. That resulted in Ace giving a nervous chuckle, then slowly pulled his finger away from the bowl. Thatch glared a little longer to make sure he didn't do anything, then started to mix the batter. It started out very rough, gradually becoming very smooth. With a snap of his fingers, he called for another Lemonade.

"You know, I'm not your servant." Ace huffed when he put the Lemonade on the table next to Thatch. The other gave a small giggle, which was very creepy.

"That's what you think." Thatch replied, carrying the big bowl with ease. He heard a small snort as he carried the batter across the room and to the humongous oven which was very convenient.

"Now get the biggie pannie wannie over there, little one." Thatch snickered. Ace spat a few curse words Thatch's way as he did what he was told. When Ace brought out the pan, Thatch rolled his eye's.

"The _square _one, baka!"

"There _is no _square one!" Ace countered. At this, Thatch visibly paled. He carefully dropped the bowl and, with lightening speed, dashed to where Ace was. He purposefully shoved the younger man away. When he looked inside the humongous closet/cupboard, he learned that Ace was not lying. There really was no Square pan. How were they suppose to make it _now_? Thatch reached into his pocket and dialed a number on the den-den mushi. If this fails, all hope is gone.

* * *

**Marco&Izo **

Izo quickly went into his room, followed by the reluctant Marco. He really didn't know what his blond friend was so worried about; they were just going clothes shopping inside of Izo's unused clothes! At the second door to the left, Izo placed his hand on the knob.

"Isn't your the first one, yoi?" Marco asked from behind. Izo just turned and gave him a mischievous smirk, much to the others dismay. Marco narrowed his eyes before Izo turned back around. He flung the door open. When he did, he heard a small gasp from his fellow WB pirate. Inside, there was a full room of unused clothes that Izo bought the last trip. It was bigger then a walk-in closet, that's for sure. Izo moved aside to let Marco in. The blond was clearly surprised at all of the display. Colorful shirts, colorful skirts- which Izo had no idea why he bought. Maybe he had foreseen the coming of Robin, so he bought all of it?- long pants, short shorts, khakis, and... beautiful gowns. Izo noticed that the blond stared at a certain gown a split second longer than he did everything else. _That _would come later. For now, he was focusing on another couple. Izo grabbed Marco's arm and pulled him to the other side of the room. Time to get busy.

"What do you think about this one?" Izo asked. He showed a very revealing, hot pink top with the words 'Love' encrypted on it. Marco gave a small shrug.

"It's okay."

"... I should bring one of the nurses to do this instead, You're horrible."

"Well, speak of the devil." A voice came from behind the two. The men both turned and looked at two women.

"Kiyomi, Hikaru!" Izo gasped. "What are you two doing here?"

"We're here to help with Robin's party." Kiyomi stated. Her blonde hair was straight and curled, put to the right of her head. She wore a cleavage-revealing, plain, light-pink shirt. Black short-short jeans and matching light-pink sandals are what she wore on her legs. A few bracelets dangled from her skinny arms and diamond earrings hung from her ears. She looked so casually beautiful!

"How did you find out, yoi?" Marco asked.

"Izo has a bad habit of leaving doors open." Hikaru replied. She wore more of a dazzling outfit. Little diamond pins outlined the rubber band that held up her ponytail. She had on a beautiful, flowing dark-blue shirt that came to just below her thighs, where she wore black tights. Those were sparkling as well! She wore dark-blue stiletto's and a diamond bracelet adorned her arm. Where is all this diamond coming from?

"Do not!" Izo yelled.

"How do you think we got in here?" Hikaru replied, rolling her silver eyes. They went nicely with all the diamond she had on.

"The door was wide open. At least we had the decency to close the door." Kiyomi added, a tad bit more polite than Hikaru.

"Well, where is Miyuki and Riku?" Izo asked. Where the other two nurses were could be very dear to this mission of... party planning.

"Their with Robin. Don't worry, they'll keep her company until we're done here."Kiyomi answered. The two men let out a small sigh of relief. Everything was going as planned! Than, a small 'budabudabuda' went off in the room. Everyone looked to Izo, who in turn reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small den-den mushi.

"Izo." He answered. Before anyone replied, he could hear the clanking of metal and pots in the background. Thatch. Than some shouts of horror. Thatch probably. Than the sound of flames. Ace. What the hell was going on in there?

"The hell are you two doing?" Izo demanded.

"Well... we, uh, have a situation." Ace called out.

"What is it?"

"We have party-planning to do, you know."

"... Was that who I think it was?" Ace asked.

"Yes, it _was _Hikaru and Kiyomi." Izo sighed. He knew why Ace asked that. The more people knew about this little project, the worse.

"Well, anyways, as I said, we have a little predicament here. You see, the only cake baker-shape-thingys we have here are a large round one and a ENORMOUS tree one. Like, the tree one comes up to my killer ab's." Ace snickered at the end. In the corner of his eye, Izo could see Hikaru blushing at the last statement. Now, that might be a problem.

"Just... make the tree, yoi." Marco decided.

"You sure?" Ace asked.

"Yes." Izo helped with this. It's better than a round thing, right? "Add some life-like detail to it, would ya?"

"'Course I will, now shut up and get working on the party!" Thatch yelled. He obviously hung up when the Den-Den mushi went to sleep. This left everyone in a confused silence. Than, Izo's brain clicked. He turned to the girls with a smile on his face.

"Can you two help me choose the clothes for Robin-chan to wear?" Izo asked. The two girls squealed and nodded their heads like crazy. Izo smirked, leading them off to the back of the room where all the clothes were. Look's like everything's gonna work out.

* * *

***************************Time Skip! 5 hours*****************************

**Thatch&Ace**

Thatch focused on the task like it was the end of the world. And, if he failed it, it kind of _would _be the end of the world. For a cook, messing up a plate was one of the worst crimes. Ruining a _lady's _plate, especially since it was a dessert, was unacceptable in any way. So, he wanted this to be perfect. So far, he had done just that. Mixing the forest green and a tad of white fondant really helped to make it look real. That was a fairly easy task, though it _did _take about 2 or 3 gallons of forest green fondant. The tricky part, however, was carving out the leafs to put on the tree. The cake was nearly ready, and Thatch only got half done. If only Ace could do this! Speaking of which, Thatch looked up from his carving to look for Ace. He wasn't there. No biggie; Thatch hadn't expected him to stay and help with the cake anyways. Ace just liked to _eat _the food, not make it. Thatch went back to his leaf-making process. HIs hand's were like magic on these leafs. In the next half an hour, all the leaves were made. While Thatch was standing back and admiring his work, the cake went off. This caused Thatch to grin like a madman. As he was walking over to the cake, he thought he should tell Miyuki and Riku to stall Robin for another half hour or so. As he was reaching for his den-den mushi, he heard something he shouldn't have heard yet. Footsteps. Voices. _Feminine _voices.

"Shit." Thatch wondered aloud. This wasn't good. He crept over to the doorway of the kitchen and creaked open the door a tiny bit. His suspicions were correct. There, standing on the deck, was Miyuki and Riku. Where was... his eye's traveled and fell on Robin. than they bulged out. She was wearing a long, dark-blue gown that covered her feet. The 'V' in the front dipped so low that Thatch thought he would have a heart attack. Her normally let-down hair was tied up into a high pony, her hair curled in the back. The dress fit just perfectly onto all of her perfect curves. She completed the look with a diamond bracelet and a sparkling hold-on wallet. Thatch was almost drooling when he remembered the cake, He took one last look and, as quietly as possible, went to the cake. Time to decorate!

After a few minutes, Thatch stepped back. The cake was wonderful! Ace didn't lie, the cake came up to his abs. It looked like a real oak tree, with the bursting colors of the leaves and the dark-brown trunk of the tree. On the top was the words 'Welcome, Robin!' In big, candle-like letters. This was too perfect! Carefully, Thatch carried the Tree onto a small cart.

"This thing was heavy!" Thatch mused. Not that he had any trouble carrying it, but it was a lot heavier than a normal tree-cake. If there _is _a normal tree cake, that is. He slowly rolled the cake to the front door. Right than, Ace burst in. His eye's were wide and he was panting considerably hard.

"Did-did you make the food?" Ace asked, smiling. Thatch stopped in his tracks.

"... Food." Thatch sounded very blank.

"Yes, food. F-O-O-D?"

"Food. Food. Food food food food! FOOD!" Thatch cried. How did he forget about the food?! He zoomed to the fridge - which was locked so Ace or anyone else couldn't get to it at night- and instantly started pulling food out.

"You take the cake out to the mess hall and I'll make the food!" Thatch commanded.

"Kay." Ace replied. He went behind the rolling-stand and started to move it to the mess hall. When he got out of the double-doors, he instantly went back in.

"She's outside!" Ace whisper-yelled.

"I noticed!" Thatch was frying some chicken at the moment.

"What do I do?"

"Call the girls to distract her!"

"... They already are."

"Just go than!" Thatch yelled. Ace rolled his eye's and did what he was told. He prayed on his lucky stars that Robin wasn't out there anymore. When he poked his head through the door, she was gone. Ace sighed in relief and quickly moved the cake across the deck. Safely making it across the deck and into the next door, Ace froze. There was the beautiful Robin, laughing with her back turned on Ace. When Hikaru locked eyes with him, she instantly started to blush. When Riku meet Ace's gaze, she started to pull Robin in the other direction. The other complied but Ace could tell she was reluctant. He made a mental note to thank Riku later. Continuing on, Ace pushed the tree-cake over to the second-biggest door in the whole ship-The mess hall's entrance. When Ace pushed open the doors, he was glad at what he saw. There were little white and blue decorations hanging from the ceilings, with the same colored flowers tucked into a flower-carryer on the walls. Many of the crew was already inside, drinking rum and eating some snacks set out beforehand. In the way back of the room, Whitebeard sat on a special-made chair for the mess-hall. Everyone looked at him after a few seconds, than the cake.

"Why is it a tree?" One called out.

"Because-"

"Robin-chan is coming!" Another yelled. Ace quickly took this time to go hide behind Whitebeards chair, careful to not drop the perfect cake. Right when he was safely hidden, the sound of doors opening could be heard.

* * *

**Regular**

"Welcome to the crew, Robin!" Whitebeard's loud voice bellowed. Robin blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing right. They had made a party just for her?

"Welcome, Robin-" All men stopped what they were saying when they saw what she was wearing. After a few more seconds of staring, their tongues started to hang out of their mouths.

_'How sweet!'_ Robin thought as she walked past the men with their tongues hanging out. When Riku gave them a good, ice-shattering glare, they all stopped staring and congratulated Robin. Robin had to say numerous thank you's as they did so. A lot of men came up to her and gave a long hug, which Robin didn't mind one bit.

"Food's out!" Thatch yelled, bursting into the room with tray's of mouth-watering food. A warm scent filled the air, as he brought in Fresh Fried Chicken, Lobster, Fried Fish and Chips, and a whole lot of Corn. Robin smiled at how the WB pirates all flew to the seats of the tables, each saving a seat for a different lady. Robin decided to go where Marco and Izo were currently sitting.

"Thank you, Marco-san." Robin smiled.

"No problem, yoi." Marco lied. There were actually a lot of problems that happened, but he shouldn't mention them. It would just ruin the moment! Than, _not _on cue, Ace rolled out the cake. When Robin's eye's met with it, they widened. It was a tree. But, not just any tree. It looked like...

The whole room got quiet as Robin slowly got up from her seat, and then walked towards the cake in the same pace. Too many memories filled her mind, horrible ones. But, the good one's also came to mind as well. The Professor, meeting her mother... All good memories. When she got close enough to, she touched the leaves of the cake. So delicately made is what went through her mind. She felt the stares on her back but ignored them. She turned around and look to Thatch.

"This... This is perfect." Robin smiled genuinely. "It look's just like my tree from home. Thank you, Cook-san." Thatch nodded at her and she turned towards everyone.

"Really, though, I want to say thank you to all of you. You accepted me before I was even a member. You trusted me while I wouldn't even eat in the same room as you all. And, all those times I tried to escape, you still stuck with me. I'm sorry I was too blind by ignorance that I couldn't see that what I needed wasn't to escape- it was all of you, a Family. For sticking with me, I say, truly, to all of you, Thank You."

If someone were standing outside, they could hear- loud and clear- all of the cheering that was going on in the Mess Hall of the Whitebeard Pirates.

**OMW! This was over 5,500 words! :D I had so much inspiration to write this, thanks to all of your reviews! Sarcasticles, thank you for pointing those details out ;O I didn't know that, so thank you! :D I'm sorry I couldn't update this faster D: I know how much of you were waiting for this! Yu know, this is my longest chapter, so I would appreciate it if you guys would review! ;) Thanks and I hope you liked it!**

**Don't worry; the rest of the party will be in the next chapter, as well as a flash-back of... GAH! I SHOULDN'T TELL YOU THESE THINGS! :O Just... be prepared to have another long chapter ^.^**

**Should I include AceRo _while _they're hunting for *ahem ahem*, or should I include it now? Vote on my page! :D Please keep in mind that this poll will only last for another 4 days. I shall make a chapter with the AceRo and one without it; if the polls says nay, I won't put the AceRo chapter up. If the poll says Aye, I shan't keep it away. So, vote now! :D**


	3. What really happened

**Hey everyone! I am so so so so sorry that I haven't updated in over a month! I am so horrible... I had to rewrite this chapter, like, a million times, then we went up to Canada for 2 weeks, and UGH! It was all so hectic... but I did come out with a new story during that time, so yall should check it out ;P Anyways, I want to keep this Authors note short so that I don't keep the people who are reading this from actually getting to the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, except for my plot -not really, anyways-. One Piece all belongs to Oda, so yah!**

* * *

Long, slender fingers curved around a oval-shaped glass. As the newest member of the Whitebeard pirates sipped on her wine, she looked around the enormous mess hall. Many of her crewmates were happily drinking rum, chatting away with anyone around them, and having a small food fight in one area. Robin ducked upon instinct when she caught a glimpse of a flying piece of cake coming straight at her. Slowly looking behind her, she saw that the cake had actually flown through the wall and had made a mini whole.

'Is that possible?' The raven-haired woman wondered to herself. Shaking her head to clear it, she quietly got up from her seat across from Marco-san and Izo-san. Noticing that she hadn't caught their attention, Robin walked towards the large double-doors leading out to the world. But, it wasn't over yet. She had a very eerie feeling that she was being watched, or worse, followed. Turning around with an invisible-scowl on her face, she walked up to someone in the wall shadows.

"You know, Cook-san, you need to work on your sneaking skills." Said person huffed in annoyance. Coming from around the corner, the accused man wore a childish pout on his face.

"How did you know I was here?" He whined, frown deepening more than earlier. The lady of the two turned back around, facing the exit of the mess-hall.

"I am an ex-assassin. Not knowing if someone was sneaking on me would be a very... large disadvantage." She stated. No more words passed between the two as Robin walked away. Pushing the doors open, she quickly walked outside of the mess hall. After a few turns, she had made it to the same exact place she had been the day before. She sighed in relief as she started working on the knots of the rope that connected with the escape boat. while everyone was gone and distracted in the party, she would be able to make a quick getaway. Stopping her work, she looked around her to make sure no one was around. Finding that the coast was clear, she went back to her work.

"Interesting..." The raven-haired woman mumbled. For some reason, the knots were tied much more elaborately then last time. Narrowing her eyes, she stepped backwards and crossed her arms over her chest in an 'X' formation. As she watched her extra limbs sprout and work on the knots, her mind drifted away to a different place.

* * *

_ Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Her heels clicking upon the ground were the only thing heard in the large casino. The marble tiled floors reflected off of the woman as she carefully placed her manicured nails into the pockets of her long, white coat. The white cowgirl hat that rested on her head shaded over her beautiful, large blue eyes. She felt a chill go up her body, caused by the belly-shirt two-piece she had on, which was purple with a short-skirt for bottoms._

_ "Miss All S-Sunday?" She stopped walking. Who would dare confront her, other then her own boss? But, it definitely wasn't her bosses voice. Turning only her head around, she looked at one of the agents working for Baroque works. He was most likely a billion; he didn't look strong at all. His legs were shaking slightly and he was clearly sweating. Sunday narrowed her eyes at the man. This organization didn't need weaklings._

_ "M-Mr. 0 wants to s-see you in his offi-office." Sunday narrowed her eyes even more as she took in the information. Why was Mr. 0 sending a billion to go get her? Closing her eyes and turning back to the way she was walking, she chuckled very slightly. The sound of her heels clicking against the marble-floor was heard again as she walked away, towards Mr. 0's office. She crossed her arms over her chest in an 'X' formation, whispering the words: 'Uns Fleurs.'_

_"Wh-wha- AH!" Miss All Sunday walked away from the scene where a human being had dropped dead. The snapping of his bones rang in her ears, even after she pushed open the doors that lead into her bosses office._

* * *

_ No words were exchanged between the two power-houses for a few minutes. Sunday took a seat across from Mr. 0's turned-the-other-way chair. From the smoke that was going up in the air, she could tell that he was probably smoking. When wasn't he, really? The banana alligators swam in different patterns of the aquarium that took up more then a full wall. She crossed her leg over the other and rested her arms on her lap. She watched as the large, dark brown chair turned around._

_ "You can't keep killing our men, Miss All Sunday." He started off, intertwining his fingers together and bringing them up to his lips._

_ "He was weak." She replied. They had some sort of staring contest for a little while. Than, out of the blue, Mr. 0 laughed. Sunday narrowed her eyes at how evil and horrendous his laugh sounded. He smirked at her when he had finished._

_ "Well, I have a new assignment for you." Sunday kept her eye on his hand as he reached over and dropped a stack of papers in front of her. She sighed. He wanted her to fill out some documents?_

_ "I do not want you to fill out some documents." Sunday sweat-dropped. It was like he had just read her mind! Reaching over to grab the manilla-folder, she turned the first cover. There, she was met with a picture. The person had a mischievous grin on his face, as well as grey, sharp eyes and freckles scattered across his upper cheeks. He had very tone muscles and an orange cowboy hat, with a frown-face and a smiley face placed in the center. Even though his beaded-necklace seemed a little interesting, the most interesting factor of him is what was at the end of his hand. Fire licked the tips of his fingers as he posed for the camera. Miss All Sunday narrowed her eyes at the picture._

_ Flipping the page, she scanned over some of the basic information about him. He was the same age as her, 20, and he had a little brother, Monkey D. Luffy. She didn't notice the last part as she stare down at the name under the title: Grandfather. Her eyes widened to their normal size._

_ "Monkey D. Garp?" She whispered. Wasn't he the marine who had put away Gol D. Roger? Flipping the page yet again, she found useless information. Sunday looked up to her boss._

_ "What is my assignment, then?" She asked, resting her head in the palm of her hand. The other chuckled yet again, suddenly springing up from his seat. He stuck his hands in his pockets as he leaned against his large desk._

_ "I'm sure you know of Portgas D. Ace, Miss All Sunday?" He lowered his eyelids. Sunday did the same to her own eyes. She hated it when he did that, but she never said it. Doing that showed just how devious Mr. 0 really was._

_ "Yes, I believe so. He is the one whose documents these are, correct?" She motioned towards the manilla folder._

_ "Correct you are!" He smirked evilly down to her. Standing up herself, she crossed her arms over her chest and gave Mr. 0 a weary look._

_ "He is the rookie pirate who formed the Spade Pirates. According to my knowledge, he is currently part of Whitebeard's crew." Sunday explained. The smirk on Mr. 0's face turned into an unbelieving-frown._

_ "That baka of a kid is a Whitebeard pirate?"_

_ "I believe I just stated that."_

_ "... You should be glad that I need you for this assignment. I would kill you on the spot if I didn't." Mr. 0 laughed darkly once more as he held his stomach. Sunday was successful at hiding the fact that she was very angry at the moment. For some odd reason she didn't know, she just was._

_ "Your mission is to study up on Ace. I want you to get to know all of his tactics, and learn them well. Learn where his weak spots are and how to get to them." After the last word came out of his mouth, he stalked towards the door._

_ "And how would you have me do that, Crocodile?" Miss All Sunday asked._

_ "Like you always do, Nico Robin." He stopped short of the door, grabbing onto the handle. Robin could practically hear the smirk on his lips as he spoke again._

_ "Trick them, learn with them, travel with them, then, as always, abandon them." He closed the door shut, leaving a half-stunned, half-angry Nico Robin standing next to the desk. Even though she was use to being betrayed, she didn't believe she would do it! And he was wrong, she assured himself that. Those people she had lived with, they betrayed her. Crocodile had no idea... Shaking her head and taking a deep breath, she wore her poker face once again. If this was what he wanted, she would do it. For the poneglyphs, right?_

_ Straightening her hat, she strode out the other exit of the office. Now, how to get on board..._

* * *

_ She leaned against the wall as she heaved very heavily. Out of all the things that would happen... This happened. First, Crocodile had found the poneglyphs. He wanted so badly to unlock the secret weapon, so he had brought her their. Second, Robin lied to him and said that the poneglyph only contained history of the palace. That really got Crocodile angry, but Robin didn't care. She would definitely not tell him that the thousand-year old stone contained information of the secret weapon. Third, Crocodile had attacked her, saying that this would be the perfect setup for the Whitebeard pirates to take her in since they had reportedly docked there earlier that day. She doubted thats the reason he attacked her, but could do nothing as the poison quickly spread through her body._

_ Robin leaned against the wall with all her strength. Not only was she in a dire situation, but the underground walls of this cave were collapsing down on her. A chunk of the ceiling nearly squashed her whole body as it landed next to her. She took another step forward, only to have her eyesight get more blurry then it already was. As dust and dirt floated through the air, the raven-haired woman thought she saw someone in the distance. Squinting her eyes, she thought she glimpsed at an orange hat. That was the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes. Crocodile was right after all._

* * *

**Ace's P.o.v:**

He grabbed the side of the door, leaning to the floor and coughing roughly. Although he was not known to drink, when he did, his system went haywire. Many would think that he wouldn't get drunk because of his devil-fruit powers. Well, that wasn't the case. He only got drunk after at least 5 pints. Compared to Oyaji, that was nothing. Turning around, he staggered back to the bar-side table. He grabbed the handle of a random point he found and downed the whole drink in one gulp.

"Oi oi! Ace, don't drink so much. That's your 9th pint!" Ace looked up to see the fourth division commander glaring down at the younger man. All he did was stick his tongue out at him. Honestly, he was pretty beat up at this point. But sadly, alcohol doesn't wait for anyone. Slamming the glass down on the counter to the point of almost breaking it, he called for another drink.

"This is a party." He lousily stated. "I can drink however much I want."

"Yes, but it isn't your party, which means that you can't drink as much as you want." Thatch retorted, snatching away the drink that a crewmate made for Ace. The latter person dramatically gasped in shock.

"Oi! That's mine!" He shouted, standing up from his stool. He was a bit wobbly as he tried to reach for his drink. In a fail, he slipped on some spilled rum on the floor. Thatch laughed as Ace landed butt-first on the ground.

"If you can get it!" Thatch roared, slapping his knees. Ace spat on the ground as he got up. From the outside, you couldn't tell. From the inside, it was the only thing you could tell. The second-division commander was heating up very quickly, and he felt his own drowsiness slowly fading away. Soon, Ace was standing up straight and perfectly healthy. Thatch glared at him.

"Cheater." He whined, handing over the bottle to him. Ace grinned happily as he took the cup. After downing the whole thing once more, he gave a loud belch. Thatch made a face at him.

"Excuse me!" Ace laughed.

"Try to have some manners!" Thatch teased, sitting on the bench next to Ace. "We do have ladies on board. And, not to mention a new one." A lightbulb went off in Ace's head.

"Speaking of which," Ace scanned across the whole room. As he expected, she wasn't there. "Where is she?" Thatch pointed to the double-doors.

"She left about 10 minutes ago." Ace raised his eyebrow at his crewmate.

"Do you know where she went?"

"Well... no." Ace rolled his eyes. Grabbing his hat from off the counter and placing it on his head, he headed for the door. He waved goodbye to Thatch as he slipped out of the room. Meanwhile, the head cook of the Whitebeard pirates frowned very seriously.

"How come I'm always being left today...?"

* * *

**Robins P.o.v.:**

"Very interesting..." Robin spoke, rubbing the end of her chin. According to the look of it and how hard it was to undo the binding knot, she guessed that this was a Constrictor Knot. It had been at least 18 minutes with no luck at even loosening the bondage. Touching it gracefully with her fingers, she sighed. Even using a knife wouldn't work on this, no matter how sharp it was or how strong the person was. She thought she heard something from behind, but completely ignore it aw she was so into the cutting of this rope. Grabbing at the rope, Robin narrowed her eyes. The rope used here was not any regular rope; it was Dynamica. Finding these items out at sea was not the easiest to accomplish. So why use it to hold down a boat. Robin stopped thinking about the ropes and the knots as she heard a faint noise from behind her. Though it was very quiet, she still heard it. She sighed once more, retracting her extra arms and putting her hands to her hips.

"You have better sneaking skills then Cook-san does, Ace-san." She turned around to find the exact person she had expected to see. His face was not only shocked, but also... angry. Robin remained to have her poker face as she took in the disappointed and hurt feelings Ace was giving off at the moment. He leaned against the wall that was behind him as he partially glared, partially stared at her.

"... Why?" He asked, voice firm on every beat. Robin gave him a dull look.

"It isn't any of your business, Ace-san. What I do shouldn't-"

"Of course it's my business!" Ace growled, interrupting the raven-haired girl before she was finished. "You are my nakama now! It's my business if you want to leave right after you joined us!" Robin could tell he was really beginning to get angry as a frustrated scowl came across his face. Turning to face him fully, she glared at him.

"It's a personal decision. Those, Ace-san, are the ones that you have no right to know of." She declared. No more words were exchanged between them as they looked at each other. If Ace wasn't mad right now, he would have to admit that Robin looked amazing with the moon reflecting off her and her diamond earrings. And, if Robin wasn't annoyed at Ace right now... well, she wouldn't be annoyed at Ace. Both of them pushed those thoughts away as Ace spoke.

"Why do you want to leave?" He clarified his question from earlier. This time, he was met with a confused look.

"Why do you care so much? So what if I was to leave right now?" She asked.

"You already asked that yester-..." Realization dawned on Ace as he put all the pieces together. "That was... that was all an act?" Robin glared up at him even more.

"If you really want to know, it was an act. Part of my... assignment was to get on this ship and do... something. That is all you need and will know from me." Turning back around, she crossed her arms over her chest while calling forth her extra limbs.

"Did the one who attacked you in that cave give you that assignment? Is that who told you to do this?" Robin stopped what she was doing and let her hands fall to the ground. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned around to look at Ace. She slapped his hand away from his shoulder as she backed away from him. For once, she let her true emotions show as she felt tears welling in her eyes. Ace's own eyes widened as Robin partially answered his question.

"And so what if it was? What does it matter to you, really? You barely even know me and... it isn't your business... what's happened to me..." She stopped talking as she felt her first tear for a long time fall down her face. Something inside of her cracked as more tears started to pour down her face. Holding her face into her palms, she tried to stop the tears.

"You have no idea... how its like to be... rejected everywhere you go." Robin stopped talking for a minute and gritted her teeth together. She hung her head to the floor and clenched her fists together as tears poured down her face.

"You... you have no idea how hard this is for me." She looked up to Ace with the most painful eyes he ever saw. "To find somewhere... that actually accepts you, just to leave them in the end. Just... just because of my heritage... I've been..." Robin bit her tongue. What was she saying?! Ace doesn't need to know this! Sharing your feelings with the enemy... Robin's mind went blank as she felt strong, warm arms wrap around her. With wide, teary eyes, she looked up to Ace.

"Wh-what-"

"Shh." He interrupted once again, placing his chin on the top of Robin's head. She complied and stayed silent, digging her head into his chest. Right there, she had no idea what she was doing. Her mind was blank, and all she wanted to do was disappear from the world.

"I've gone through the same thing. When I was younger, I was usually treated horribly for my dad. I know how it feels when you are abandoned, and I know how it feels to not be accepted." Robin cried more into Ace's chest as he tried to comfort her.

"Until I came here." Robin stopped crying for a moment as she listened to Ace's words. Pulling away from her for a second, Ace grinned childishly.

"These guys may not be the best, and they obviously don't have the greatest humor- especially Marco. Man that guys such a... Anyways, they won't judge you for who your parents were or what you use to be." Robin looked at him with a bewildered look. Was it really possible for someone to ignore her heritage? Ace, probably noticing the look, laughed as he wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders.

"Yes, no matter how bad your mom or dad may have been, they won't care. Oyaji says that 'Every person is a child of the sea'." Robin's tears still ran down her face as she nodded.

"Oh, and one more thing, don't tell Marco I said that?" Ace smirked, heading back for the door.

"Ace-san, how... how do you know I will stay?" She called after him. Person in question stopped walking and turned his head around, hand on his hat. He stuck his tongue out at her, which made Robin blink in surprise through her blurry eyesight.

"Because you would be pretty dumb if you didn't." And with that, Ace called after one of his crewmates as he went back into the mess-hall. Robin touched the diamond necklace she had on as she thought of those words.

* * *

Marco groaned in annoyance as the bickering of the 16th division commander and 4th division commander got louder. Putting down the binoculars he had and turning to them, he listened to what they were arguing about.

"The hell are you arguing about, yoi?" The blond asked, jumping down from the crows nest and landing next to the hiding spot they were at. Thatch sighed as he handed Izo a large sack of money. Izo laughed as he tossed the bag around, Marco eyeing him suspiciously.

"What is that for, yoi?" He asked, watching as Thatch left, mumbling a few things he couldn'tunderstand. Turning back to the cross-dresser, he raised his eyebrow. Izo looked up to him with a smirk on his face.

"We betted on what Ace would do if a thing like this with Robin happened." He explained.

"A thing like what, yoi?" He dug more. Izo seemed to not notice as he poured out the amount of money on a box. He started counting out each coin as he answered the first-division commander.

"I bet that Ace would show somto form of romance towards Robin when she is distressed, and Thatch bet that he would be like he always is- rude and unaware of what he blurts out." Izo explained further. Marco rolled his eyes as he turned around, now bored of the subject. As he turned into his Zoan type form and started to fly back to the crows nest, he heard Izo scream something.

"YOU CHEAPSKATE!"

* * *

**And there you have it! This is chapter 3 of my story, Hunting Down the Enemy-Together! :) **

**Ok, so from my last chapter, I got a lot of responses saying that the polls weren't out to see if I should put in AceRo now or later. But, from the PM's I actually got a tie! 4 for now and 4 for , right? xD o, I decided that I would put in a little right now, and a little in each chapter. So, thank you to all of those who replied and who keep reading my story, no matter if I update supper slowly. **

**People, I really want to thank a special person who has always reviewed to my chapters, and that would be Mon Esprit Libre! This person has reviewed to EVERY chapter. ^_^ Thamk yhu so much! If reviewers to this chapter would please thank this person, just maybe: 'Thanks for reviewing all the time, Mon!' It would mean a lot to me! :D**

**Thanks for reading and please review! **

**Love, **

**Aiko.**


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